Mendocino Co. Board of Supervisors meets Tuesday

The possible development of a clean energy program in the county's unincorporated areas, monitoring of the Marine Life Protection Act and possible changes of the rules and regulations for Mendocino County veterans' buildings are topics on the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors' Tuesday meeting agenda.

The board meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday, for its only meeting this week. No Monday meeting will be held.

At 9:15 a.m., the board will consider appointing an ad-hoc committee to research the idea of changing the rules and regulations for county veterans' buildings and make recommendations to the board.

At 11 a.m., the board will consider developing locally a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. The board in August approved the idea of seeking a vendor to administer the program locally, and directed its General Services Agency staff to find out how much it would cost to issue a request for proposals and to make a recommendation to the board.

"GSA has researched this program and has discovered the option of piggybacking off of another city/county competitive process which would eliminate the need and the expense of going out for an RFP," according to a staff report prepared for the board.

If the program is approved, it would allow property owners to sign individual contracts with the county to assess themselves on their property taxes for the cost of energy-efficient and water-saving improvements, such as solar panels, low-flow toilets, double-pained windows, weather stripping, rain-collection systems, caulking or even Energy STAR appliances.

At 1:30 p.m., the board will hear an update on the North Coast Marine Protected Area monitoring planning from the MPA (marine protected area) Monitoring Enterprise, a program of the California Ocean Science Trust. The Baseline Program, which is the first step in MPA monitoring, will be discussed.

Also on the board's agenda but not timed is a proposal to approve a "memorandum of agreement" between the U.S. Forest Service, the federal Bureau of Land Management and the county of Mendocino to "enhance mutual communication" for five years, with a possible five-year renewal period. Sheriff Tom Allman, 3rd District Supervisor John Pinches and 1st District Supervisor Carre Brown bring the proposal to the board.

"The purpose of this MOA is to help improve interagency relationships by facilitating early and frequent communication between the defined federal agencies and counties to foster a more productive partnership that results in positive land management decisions for all parties," according to the MOA.

On the board's consent calendar -- a group of items approved as a block because they aren't considered controversial -- is a resolution to approve an agreement between the county Department of Transportation and Geo-Logic Associates "for preparation of construction plans, specifications and estimates for the modifications to Caspar Landfill sub-surface water (leachate) disposal system" near Fort Bragg.

The agreement includes a $24,980 cost for the current fiscal year and an approximately $64,000 cost to complete designs and permitting, according to a summary prepared for the board.